The Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I (SLB 14I), which provides important new and timely guidance for companies and...more
On October 11, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted unanimously to propose changes that would modernize and simplify the disclosure items in Regulation S-K and related rules and forms. The proposed...more
10/16/2017
/ Confidentiality Policies ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EDGAR ,
Filing Requirements ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Item 303 ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
As we approach the end of the 2017 proxy season, the third since the New York City comptroller launched the Boardroom Accountability Project to enact proxy access across the U.S. market, proxy access has begun to transition...more
On June 8, 2017, the House of Representatives passed, by a 233-186 vote (with all Democrats and one Republican voting against), the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017, a bill principally designed to reverse many features of the...more
6/12/2017
/ Clawbacks ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial CHOICE Act ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Repeal ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Trump Administration
In the weeks following the U.S. presidential election, companies and investors enjoyed a stock market rally fueled by expectations concerning tax cuts, increased government spending and significant deregulation. While the...more
2/6/2017
/ Annual Reports ,
Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Diversity ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Environmental Policies ,
Private Ordering ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Access Rule ,
Repeal ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Shareholders
Each company faces important decisions in preparing for its 2017 annual meeting and reporting season. Once again, we have prepared a checklist of essential areas on which we believe companies should focus as they plan for the...more
12/8/2016
/ Annual Meeting ,
Annual Reports ,
Audit Committee ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Executives ,
Corporate Governance ,
Director Nominations ,
Diversity ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
FASB ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Resource Extraction ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
On October 26, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 2-to-1 to propose amendments to the proxy rules that would require the use of universal proxy cards in contested elections. The proposed changes, if...more
10/28/2016
/ Amended Rules ,
Board of Directors ,
Contested Elections ,
Director Nominations ,
Proposed Rules ,
Proxy Materials ,
Public Comment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Shareholders ,
Universal Proxy Cards
Encouraged by the success of proxy access proposals in the 2015 proxy season, shareholder proponents have submitted almost 200 proxy access shareholder proposals for 2016 annual meetings. As of mid-June, approximately 65...more
The general themes on the corporate governance front — shareholder activism, governance activism, scrutiny of board composition, concerns regarding board oversight of risk management, director-shareholder engagement — remain...more
Each company faces important decisions in preparing for its 2016 annual meeting and reporting season. We have prepared a checklist of essential areas we believe companies should focus on as they plan for 2016, including...more
12/12/2015
/ Annual Meeting ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
PCAOB ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recently issued its U.S. voting policy guidelines for the 2016 proxy season. The guidelines include a few key changes, a summary of which is outlined below.
Conflicting Shareholder...more
11/23/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Conflicting Proposals ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Director Nominations ,
Exclusive Forum ,
Executive Compensation ,
Glass Lewis ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders
The Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Staff) recently published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14H (SLB), which provides important new guidance for companies that may receive...more
10/29/2015
/ Conflicting Proposals ,
Manager Proposals ,
New Guidance ,
No-Action Requests ,
Ordinary Business Exception ,
Proxy Season ,
Rule 14a-8(i)(7) ,
Rule 14a-8(i)(9) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Wal-Mart
On September 17, 2015, Skadden presented a webinar titled “Proxy Access: Latest Developments.” The panelists were Art Crozier, Chairman of Innisfree M&A Incorporated; Mike Garland, Assistant Comptroller for Corporate...more
10/7/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Continuous Holder Requirement ,
Director Nominations ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Access Rule ,
Proxy Season ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Stock Ownership
On August 5, 2015, in a 3-2 vote, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules implementing the controversial “CEO pay ratio” disclosure requirements that were proposed in 2013 and mandated by...more
On July 1, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a concept release soliciting public comment on possible revisions to its existing disclosure requirements related to audit committees. The release...more
On July 1, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued long-awaited proposed rules that would implement the incentive-based compensation recovery (clawback) provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform...more
In This Issue:
- Second Circuit Rules Patriot Act Does Not Authorize Bulk Metadata Collection; Congress Reconsiders Certain Patriot Act Authorities
- SEC Issues Cybersecurity Guidance for Investment Companies...more
6/2/2015
/ Broadband ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Customer Lists ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Enforcement ,
FBI ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Internet of Things ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Jurisdiction ,
Online Privacy Protection Act ,
Patriot Act ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
RadioShack ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On April 29, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules that would require companies to disclose the relationship between the compensation actually paid to named executive officers (NEOs) and...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision on April 14, 2015 that reversed a U.S. District Court opinion and vacated a permanent injunction that would have required Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to include a...more
4/16/2015
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Ordinary Business Exception ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Proxy Statements ,
Reversal ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Wal-Mart
Following are a few points to consider when preparing proxy statement materials for filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with annual shareholder meetings....more
4/1/2015
/ Annual Meeting ,
Annual Reports ,
EDGAR ,
Filing Requirements ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 8-K ,
Proxy Materials ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Meetings
In This Issue
- White House Releases Proposed Privacy Legislation
- Lessons from the Anthem Data Breach
- SEC and FINRA Release Results of Industrywide Cybersecurity Examination Sweeps
- COSO Releases Report on...more
3/2/2015
/ Anthem Blue Cross ,
Automotive Industry ,
Big Data ,
COSO ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Information Sharing ,
Insurance Industry ,
Obama Administration ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On February 9, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released proposed rules to implement Section 955 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). Dodd-Frank amended Section...more
2/16/2015
/ CD&A ,
Corporate Officers ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Employees ,
Hedging ,
Item 402(b) ,
Proxy Statements ,
Regulation S-K ,
Section 14(j) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
As our clients and friends once again embark on preparations for their 2015 annual meeting and reporting season, we have compiled a checklist of the corporate governance, executive compensation and disclosure matters that we...more
12/9/2014
/ Annual Meeting ,
Bylaws ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fee-Shifting ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
In This Issue:
- EU Issues Guidelines on ‘Right to be Forgotten’
- FFIEC Observations on Bank Cybersecurity Provides Important Guidelines for Every Industry
- Remarks by Comptroller Curry Highlight OCC...more
12/1/2014
/ Automotive Industry ,
Banks ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FFIEC ,
FTC v Wyndham ,
Google ,
NIST ,
OCC ,
Privacy Laws ,
Retailers ,
Right to Be Forgotten ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance issued a Staff Legal Bulletin on June 30, 2014 that provides guidance on the responsibilities of investment...more